FUSE Young Reporter
August 7, 2017
PENUMBRAL LUN
AR ECLIPSE
The first eclipse
we are likely to be
able to see is a
'penumbral eclip
se'. This happens
when the sun, Ea
(in the centre) an
rth
d the moon almos
t exactly line up
the night of a full
on
moon, putting th
e moon in Earth’
shadow ('penum
s
bra'). From the U
K, the moon will
slightly below Ea
be
rth's horizon, so
try to view it from
higher ground or
there won’t be m
uch to see!
KE?
WHAT WILL IT LOOK LI
e moon's
Shading will fall over th
n’t look
face, but actually it wo
al full
very diff erent to a norm
world able
moon! In areas of the
', the moon
to see a 'partial eclipse
one side,
will appear darker on
minating
with the sun’s rays illu
only a section.
of
What kind
his?
eclipse is t
HOW IS THIS DIF
FERENT FROM
A NORMAL FULL
MOON?
The answer is a lit
tle complicated.
The moon’s orbit
around the earth
is at a 5° angle to
the earth’s orbit
around the sun.
The two paths
meet to create ‘lu
nar nodes’ and th
e
moon must be ne
ar one of these
nodes for an eclip
se to happen.
A full moon is m
ore common as
it
does not have to
occur near lunar
nodes, just with
the moon, sun an
d
Earth in position.
WHEN CAN I SEE IT?
uth of
The best time in the so
when
Britain is around 8:35pm
slightly
it will be at its fullest,
ll end
later further north. It wi
e a
at about 9:50pm. Unlik
view it
solar eclipse, you can
o eyes.
safely with your own tw
FUSE
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